Data Scientists, a company specialising in the development of IT solutions for researchers, has just returned from the successful international debut of its new open source software solution, OccIDEAS.
Based at the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast, Data Scientists launched OccIDEAS at the leading international conference for health researchers, the 42nd annual meeting of the Society of Epidemiological Research (SER) in Los Angeles.
OccIDEAS was developed by Data Scientists for the Univeristy of Western Australia, for the purpose of increasing the accuracy in determining links between people’s occupation and the risk of getting cancer.
Data Scientists managing director Troy Sadkowsky said previously to determine the likelihood that a person has been exposed to a hazardous environment, an epidemiology expert would have had to individually read through each questionnaire response.
“But with the OccIDEAS program, the researcher can set rules in the system which automatically analyze which participants of the study have possible exposure or not.” Mr Sadkowsky said.
He said experts attending the SER meeting were very impressed by the program and its potential applications.
“A number of researchers stated that the application would have been perfect for their recent study and they wished they could have heard about OccIDEAS sooner” Mr Sadkowsky said.
Data Scientists are providing installation and support of OccIDEAS to the Breast Cancer, Enviornment and Employment Study (BCEES) being conducted by the Western Australian Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR).
This study will use OccIDEAS to assist in identifying environmental and employment risk factors for breast cancer.
“We estimate that OccIDEAS will save the researchers at least 30% of their time in making exposure assessments,” Mr Sadkowsky said.
“Attending the SER meeting was a great opportunity for us to see what international experts thought of OccIDEAS. We have returned with lots of potential new clients and interest in the product so we are really enthusiastic about delivering it,” Mr Sadkowsky said.
Innovation Centre chief executive Colin Graham said it was great to see Innovation Centre clients like Data Scientists achieving recognition on the world stage.
“The Innovation Centre, a University of the Sunshine Coast company, is dedicated to the development of the region’s economy and companies like Data Scientists are exactly the type of businesses we work to assist in their development.”
“The Sunshine Coast needs to establish stronger knowledge based industry because it will create local jobs and provide career paths for local young people on graduation from the university,” Mr Graham said.
“The Innovation Centre offers competitive, state-of-the-art offices, with a great location close to the university and to the business and technology precinct to be developed across the road,” he said.
“Not only can companies access students from the university, they can locate themselves at what is becoming the ICT, Green Tech, creative and knowledge based hub of the Sunshine Coast.
For more information about the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast visit www.innovation-centre.com.au, phone +61 7 5450 2600 or email innovationcentre@usc.edu.au.
For more information about Data Scientists visit www.datascientists.com or visit www.occideas.com for more information about the new IT tool.
08
July
2009
